This is coolbert:
Thanks to the BBC instances of American troops during the Korean War engaging in killings of civilians almost indiscriminate in nature, harsh and brutal!
"Kill 'em All': The American Military in Korea"
"Undertrained and underprepared"
"Things began to go wrong almost immediately for the American troops. Those who were rushed to the front line straight from occupation duty in Tokyo in July 1950 were undertrained and underprepared . . . US commanders were outmanoeuvred by North Korean units using guerrilla methods to target US lines from the rear."
"The surprise attack from the North had generated a very real refugee crisis. Just weeks after the conflict had begun, up to two million refugees were streaming across the battlefield; they clogged the roads and the UN lines."
And mixed in with those refugees the four man teams [many of them] of NKPA guerrilla fighters. Men dressed as civilians and carrying handguns, daggers and hand grenades. Forcing women to sometimes carry weaponry on their person disguised under the long robes of the Korean woman.
The North Korean People's Army [NKPA] always incorporating guerrilla/partisan activity into all military operations!
Four man North Korean guerrilla fighters indistinguishable from civilians during hours of darkness attacking American troops, wreaking havoc.
American commanders taking steps and measures, draconian in nature to deal with the unconventional warfare threat.
Long columns of refugees stopped by American military police and the persons of the Korean unfortunates subjected to intensive body pat-down, search. THE ORDER HAVING BEEN GIVEN TO MACHINE GUN ANYONE DEFYING THE STOP AND SEARCH IN ANY FORM, THOSE FLEEING TO THE RIGHT OR THE LEFT OF THE COLUMN KILLED WITHOUT WARNING!! [Columns of refugees stopped with a rice paddy on either side of the road, clear field of fire available!]
AT LEAST DURING THE EARLY STAGES OF THE KOREAN WAR THIS WAS STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE [SOP]!
I can easily imagine a goodly number of Korean women modest in nature not wanting to be patted down by an American MP fleeing and being killed NOT EVEN FOR HAVING WEAPONS ON HER PERSON!
Those American troops "undertrained and underprepared" also facing an adversary at that exact instant PERHAPS THE BEST TRAINED AND MOST COMBAT READY HARDENED INFANTRY IN THE WORLD! A sizable percentage of those NKPA troops veterans of the Chinese Civil War and many also having fought at Stalingrad with distinction!!
Hard and cruel both, undeniably so, desperate circumstance calling for desperate measures, egregious and again draconian and regrettable in nature. War was not easy then, not easy now, never will be.
coolbert.
War is hell. As tragic as these killings may have been, war is war.
ReplyDeleteI personally am thankful that American servicemen were there to defend South Korea's freedom from a tyrannical communist regime.
Every war has its tragedies, and the Korean War is no exception. My Korean grandfather served alongside US Marine during the war. He respected the men to the core, and his experience with them left a profound positive impression of Americans to him.
Tragic as it may have been, war is hell. Every war has its share of tragedies, and the Korean War is no exception.
ReplyDeleteI personally am eternally grateful to the American servicemen who defended South Korea from the evils of a tyrannical communist regime.
My late Korean grandfather served alongside US Marines during the Korean War as a translator, and his experiences left a profound positive impression of American servicemen on him.
I can't blame the American troops for taking such drastic measures. The marines weren't that used to guerilla warfare so early in the Korean War, especially after fighting in conventional battles during WWII.